Red Dream II: Version I
by She's Happy2bHardcore
Summary: Sequel to midnightcherryblossom's Red Dream. After returning home, Alathea and Alexia are disenchanted with the life they originally left behind. Three years down the road, they return to Gaia with high hopes and newfound enemies. AU, OC, slight OOC.
1. Prologue

(A/N: Well, hi there! It's kind of been about 4 or 5 years, but I've decided to try my hand at writing again. This particular piece is a sequel to my friend Alexis (midnightcherryblossom)'s story, Red Dream (Story ID 2536671 )

In another fun twist, Alexis may *also* be writing a sequel, so you'll have two different versions of Alathea and Alexia's next step in their journeys! (Confused yet? That's okay, me too. Enjoy the ride.) I'm really looking forward to seeing where this goes. Oh, and I own NUFFINK of the Final Fantasy sort. Not even Alathea, who is shamelessly based on my likeness.

Also! You'll occasionally see a song title in italics. I'm plugging these in intermittently to give you a general feel for the "scene" at hand, either in regards to the lyrics or the energy that the song brings. Feel free to plug them in YouTube while you're reading to take a step into my brain region. Or just completely ignore them! The freedom of choice is yours, my friend. Anyway, ONWARD!)

Prologue

In a short, soundless burst of light, two girls in their teens fell gracelessly on the 50 yard line of a football field in a little-known town. They landed with a grunt, flattening themselves onto the moist, chilly grass; around them, the world carried on as if nothing had happened.

Minutes passed, and finally the brunette sat up with a groan. She blinked rapidly, waiting for the area around her to come into focus; her stomach still churned from whatever mystery journey had gotten her here. The ferry….that strange man… it seemed like ages ago.

Finally, it occurred to her; _she was home again_. In front of her stood the gargantuan bleachers that proudly proclaimed their hometown name – turning behind her, she noticed the chainlink fence that seperated the field from the residential area; namely, Alathea's house.

As if on cue, the blonde form next to her wiggled to life.

"Did we make it?" she moaned, spitting out a rogue blade of grass. Alexia sighed and helped pull her to a sitting position.

"It would seem so."

Alathea shook the dizziness out of her head, then paused to take in her surroundings. Her heart began to race when she noticed a familiar red house across the fence.

"Let's go!"

She shot up, fumbling a little under her weak legs, and took off towards the field's exit. Alexia scrambled up next, shouting in protest.

"Alathea, wait!"

She sprinted as fast as she could, eventually catching up with her best friend near the street's entrance to the stadium. Gently grabbing Alathea's arm before she could round the corner, she pulled her to a stop.

"Alexia, what's the problem! We have to go see our families!"  
"It's been months, Thea! Our faces have probably been on the evening news…they may even have presumed us dead at this point!"

As was the usual circumstance, Alexia's logic weighed out Alathea's impulsiveness. Both girls stood there, panting, letting the situation fully ripen.

Almost a year ago, they'd been captured against their will (at the time) and sent to Gaia in order to help in the fight against Jenova and her new army of clones. They'd gone through an immense amount of changes, emotionally and most notably physically. In fact, it had been brought to their attention that they'd never really belonged to earth in the first place. Their true race had been long extinct, and their parents had sent them to the planet at birth in a frantic attempt to save them. It was their race that truly helped in the recent epic battle – no human girls could have aided that much. The Lillyous, upon fighting to the point of exhaustion, came to tranform into their ultimate form – towering and monsterous. In the time leading up to the final battle, Alathea and Alexia had inevitably found romances with Kadaj and Yazoo, but found it too much to handle in the wake of everything happening; an information overload in the form of a potential new needed to come home, and home is where they now were.

"Dead…..?" Alathea tasted the word with a look of discomfort on her face. Suddenly, a wave of grief hit her; her mom, her brother, Mark…it would have destroyed them to think her dead. Alexia seemed to be in the same headspace as the color drained from her naturally tan complexion. She bit her fist for a brief moment, shaking her head.

"What do we tell them we've been doing for the past few weeks?" Her eyebrowns knitted as she did the mental math. "Months?"

The silver haired men barely had furniture around, due to their inability to stay in one spot for very long without being chased out. Naturally, they didn't have wall calendars with kittens on them hanging around the kitchen, so it was difficult to tell how much time had really passed.

The world swirled around them. When they'd been sent to Gaia, it never occurred to them that a trip back could or would happen. When they _did_ 'book' the trip back home, what to do once they got there had been the last of their concerns. Typical. Never living outside of the moment.

Alathea sunk into a squatting position, burying her face in her hands while she thought about the situation.

"Long night last night?" laughed an oddly familiar voice. Her eyes shot open between her fingers and Alexia nearly fell over.

"Linda!"

Alathea shot up. Surely enough, being led down the sidewalk by their faithful family dog came her mother, looking…normal? She sprinted over to her, nearly tackling the small grey-haired woman in a huge hug. Her mother laughed and returned it with one arm.

"Surprised? I got to come home from the business trip a little early ; got in late last night and tried to make you breakfast this morning, but you were gone! I figured you'd gone to Lex's old place."

Over her mother's shoulder, Alathea's mouth fell open as shock registered all over her body. She stared at Alexia, who was reeling from the same realization. The business trip…she was on a business trip when they left. That in addition to the lack of shock at their disappearance…

They broke the hug, and Alathea's mom trotted on.

"Thea, do me a favor and wash up the rest of the dishes, would you? We've got company tonight. Good to see you Alexia!"

Alathea and Alexia stood perfectly still until Linda was out of sight, and at the same time, broke into a sprint towards the house. Stumbling in the front door, the familiar smells of the home enveloped them. Alexia stole a glance at the back door from the living room.

_Just as the two were getting comfortable, motorcycle engines roared and halted in their driveway. Alathea felt the fear creep over her body as she awaited the familiar sound of the door being blown off. Alexia was out. The blast came a moment later._

She shuddered, remembering how terrified they'd been that night. Then, just as quickly, she remembered that their 'scary' captors had a tendency to walk around in their boxers and thin grey robes, and got mad when Alathea stole all their candy. She giggled softly to herself at the memory.

"Lex!"

Alathea stood at the top of the stairs, motioning for her to follow. Alexia jogged up to meet her, and the two opened their bedroom door.

It was like walking into a waking memory.

The blinds to the left of the room were haphazardly pulled up, revealing a perfect view of the football field from a sniper's point of view. The bunk beds were unmade, showing slight signs of a struggle from where they'd been picked up. And then…

The two girls simultaneously glanced to their right at the television mounted on the wall. Staring back at them were three silver haired men, sitting atop their motorbikes at the peak of a canyon. As Alexia and Alathea seemed to walk through _this_ memory, tears welled in their eyes as they peeked at a still frame of their newest.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

_Thom Yorke – "Hearing Damage"_

Alathea woke from a dreamless sleep, lying flat on her back and gazing at the wooden bunk above her. As was the usual regime, she had the intent to playfully kick the bunk before her best friend woke up grumpily and tried to kill her. However, Alexia…

Alexia…

She was gone now. Thea sighed, carefully sliding into a sitting position without hitting her head on the wood. Rubbing her eyes, she stood and walked to the window. Her right hand fastened around the pull to the blinds; she took a deep breath and gave a small jerk, then light poured over her form as she blinked into the sunshine. The football field was empty, naturally, save for little bits of litter from last night's game. The tiniest amount of anger swelled in her, knowing that smelly high school students had thoughtlessly trampled over what had been a monumental piece of history to her. It had been the same way every fall since then.

Three years.

It had been three years and just a few months since then. Her 18 year old self seemed to be swallowed by her now 21 year old one; the posters of actors on the wall had been taken down, the walls had been painted, the carpet changed, the layout rearranged. She'd gone through a couple new jobs, but remained in her home for the simplicity of things. At least, that's what she'd told people.

_They could find me here if they wanted to._

Alexia had been a different story. Whereas Mark found that he couldn't cheer Alathea up on a daily basis and inevitably broke things off, Jason took Alexia in a few short months after they'd come home.

At first, it wasn't hard to go on with normal life – it was difficult in the sense for the girls to pick up where they'd left off, maybe. (Alexia had forgotten the names of some of her regulars at her job, and Alathea had to be practically retrained on the register at hers.) But both girls had accepted that this was home; this was normal. This is where they were supposed to be because it made sense to be…at least for now.

However, as time went on, it was difficult for either of them to pretend as if that chapter in their life hadn't happened, let alone mattered. It was beginning to catch up with them, and around the 3rd year of being home, the depression sunk in. Alathea and Alexia stopped speaking, simply because they never seemed capable of having a normal conversation without referencing their time spent in Gaia. Neither of them went out, really, besides their day jobs. People had since then learned to stop asking questions; they grew tired of hearing the same mechanical responses.

"Alexia?"

20 miles away from her hometown, Alexia snapped out of her trance and glanced up at Jason. He wore that same apologetic smile that had practically become his mask lately. She returned the smile, but it didn't meet her eyes.

"Mmm?"

"I was just asking you when you were working until tonight." He nervously laughed and poured more coffee into her mug. She thanked him, and mumbled,

"5:30, I think."

Jason stared at her for a few moments, and then quietly seated himself across from her. Alexia was once again staring vacantly into her coffee. Lately, it was incredibly difficult to catch her with a smile on her face, or her head out of the clouds. It was like she'd been walking through three years' worth of quicksand; the first couple that she'd confidently jogged through, but the more she went on, the more sluggish she became. It was bogging her down now.

Many moments passed before her boyfriend gently grabbed her hand, startling her a little. His hand was slightly clammy…he was nervous.

"A few years ago, you disappeared for a night. From how you describe it, it was much longer than that where you were," he spoke quietly, and paused for a moment. Her eyes were now locked on his, slight hesitation and fear behind them. They almost never spoke about what had happened, just because it seemed like such a painful thing to her. Jason let out a small breath, bit his bottom lip thoughtfully, and then continued.

"It's becoming glaringly obvious that the time gone by was different for the two of us. I had a night of wondering what had become of you. You had almost a year of—"he broke off in a sheepish chuckle. To this day, it still felt bizarre to say it. "Of attempting to save the world."

When Alexia had explained to him what had happened in her absense, she never mentioned _him._ It would have broken Jason.

Her boyfriend stood from the table and walked to the sink. Clutching the sides of the counter, he took a deep breath and hung his head as if preparing to do something important and arduous. Finally, he turned to face her again, and Alexia noticed the strain and tiredness in his blue eyes.

"You have to do something about this." He said, still gently, still quietly. "You're not the same. You're a shell of my girlfriend, the one who used to have fight in her."

The words hurt them both a little, but he went on.

"You need to talk about it. With….I don't know, a professional, maybe?"

For the first time in a long, _long_ time, Alexia scoffed and threw her hands in the air. The gesture was enough to encourage Jason.

"Yes, Jas, I'm going to waltz into a therapist's office and tell them all about my escapades with fictional characters," she laughed bitterly, "But before I go, we should probably get my name taken off the lease, because I won't be coming home. I'll go to a new home, with padded walls, where everybody wears white and gives me happy pills with my dinner!"

She realized she was now on her feet, her heart hammering in her chest. Jason looked at her with his mask of a smile.

"That's the most you've said to me in weeks."

He checked his watch, grabbed his coat, kissed her on the cheek and walked towards the front door. Opening it, he glanced over his shoulder at her.

"You know, going to see Alathea couldn't hurt at this point."

Alexia heard the door shut, but she was still staring at Jason's former position at the kitchen sink.

Alathea.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

_**Deadmau5 feat. Kaskade – "I Remember"**_

** Alathea combed through her hair for approximately the 8millionth time that evening as she sat at her vanity. Though checking the field behind her house had become as habitual as brushing her teeth every morning, her mind had been miles away since doing so when she woke up that day. She sighed, finally putting down her brush and meeting her own eyes in the mirror. Something about today made her uneasy.**

**A rumbling in the driveway interrupted her train of thought, and she thoughtlessly ticked off the possibilities. Her brother was working a double; her mother was gone for the night with her boyfriend….did Jehova's Witnesses drive house to house these days? The rumbling cut off, and moments later there was a knock at the door. **

**Crap. **

"**I'm sorry; we already belong to another church. Have a nice day!" she practiced the words as she bounded down the stairs in her sweatpants and prepared herself to come face-to-face with what she expected to be a very optimistic sales pitch about the future of her soul. Swinging the door open, however, revealed something entirely different.**

"**Lex!"**

**The two girls stared at each other for a few beats until Alathea laughed at her own awkwardness.**

"**Come in!"**

**Alexia gave her a half smile, opened the storm door, and stepped inside. The two actively recognized the time distance between their last conversation, but neither voiced it. It seemed unnecessary.**

**They walked up the stairs to the bedroom they used to share and attempted to make small talk.**

"**Soooooooo. What's up?" Alexia inquired, instinctively seating herself next to the window. Alathea smiled, leaning against the doorway; her eyes fell to the floor, trying to find patterns in the carpet. **

"**Same old, same old. Working in a pharmacy now."  
**

"**Yeah? Do you like it?"  
**

"**Yeah, it's alright…lots of clinically insane senior citizens, but I suppose you'll get that just about anywhere."**

**Alexia nodded politely but mutely. A silence hung between them for a good 30 seconds before Alathea said, "You?"**

"**Same here, really."**

"**Good, good."**

**The two looked up at each other, shared a brief moment of silence…and burst into laughter.**

"**Oh, you know…" Alexia eventually managed to say between bouts of cracking up, "Just my normal, every-day routine that I've kept to ever since we got back from saving some alternate universe!"**

**Alathea was bent over wheezing with laughter. It had been so long since she'd actually **_**talked**_** to Alexia; she never expected that she would react this way when the time came to. It was just so bizarre that after such a life-altering event, that they'd just tip their hats to each other and go their separate ways for a bit. Walk it off, y'know? It was suddenly hilarious.**

**They eventually calmed down and came back to earth, making small talk about the time spent in Gaia.**

"**Remember when you braided Sephiroth's hair thinking it was yours?" Alathea giggled.**

"**It was my nervous habit, and when you're crowded on a small boat with those guys there's a lot of hair! I didn't know where mine ended and his began!" Alexia replied, mock-defensively. She sat mused for a moment, the ghost of a smile on her face. "Their hair….their hair was more of a comedic prop than anything. You pulled Kadaj's as a defensive technique."**

**Alathea laughed, remembering the catfights they'd have early on in the visit. Picking an argument with the youngest brother was like calling out a girl with a weave in highschool. If either of them had been wearing heels or hoop earrings, they would have had to stop to take them out before tackling each other, rolling around in a ball of hair-pulling, smacking, biting, and yowling. She laughed even harder, suddenly.**

"**Oh my God, Lex, do you remember when they came to the club in 'disguise?'"**

**Alexia snorted. "Orange and blue hair….honestly! As if Cloud wouldn't have recognized them that way; if anything, they were just carrying around signs that said, 'I stick out like a sore thumb! Look at meeeeeee!'"**

**The laughing continued, and the girls went on swapping memories about the place they hadn't been in years. The place that, in order to get through every day, they had to push to the back of their minds, only reveling in it when there was no one else around...and when they were strong enough to deal with the emotional backlash. **

**Roughly an hour and a hundred so memories later, the smile faded from Alathea's face. She bit her lip for a moment, fearing where this conversation would go once she said what was on her mind. Alexia already appeared to be bracing herself, as she glanced at her best friend nervously.**

"**I miss it."**

**The three words stilled the talking, their movements, and quite obviously the jovial mood of the room. It was easy for Alathea to admit longing to be in Gaia again; Mark had been gone for awhile now. But Alexia still had Jason, and homewrecking wasn't exactly her forte. After sitting on it for a few moments, Alexia drew her knees up to her chest, not meeting Alathea's eyes.**

"**I **_**do**_** often wonder how they're doing." She said, slowly, and then added, "The whole gang, y'know?"**

**Alathea nodded silently, miles away. Alexia stood, checking her cell phone.**

"**God, look at the time. Jason'll think I've gotten in an accident or something! I gotta run. Lunch tomorrow?"**

**Alathea brightened at the thought of seeing her friend again so soon. The distance had done a number on her.**

"**Yeah! I'll be out by 3:00 tomorrow. Just pop by and we'll walk to The Sub Stop."**

**They smiled at each other, and Alexia waved over her shoulder as she walked out, shutting the door behind her. Alathea listened as she jogged down the stairs and out the front door; when the sound finally came of her car being halfway down the road, her body relaxed.**

**So many thoughts now swarmed around in her head; she couldn't finish one before another took over. Raw memories that ate at her insides because it seemed like there was no reclaiming them. She moved to her bed, lying flat on her stomach, and after a pause, she began rummaging under her mattress. Her right hand eventually wrapped around the one thing she brought with her to remind her that it was all real. **_**He**_** was real. **

_**The engine rumbled a moment after he'd walked into the cockpit, and the boat slowly began to move away from the shore. Alathea's stomach lurched and Alexia gasped as they watched two dark figures sprinting towards the now empty dock…**_

_**They were too far from shore to get off and return.**_

_**Kadaj screamed, "Wait, please! Don't go Alathea…I love you! Please don't leave me!"**_

**The sudden memory sent a painful shock through her body, and Alathea tightly grasped the leather gloves of Kadaj's that she'd snuck in her duffle bag before they'd left. She squeezed her eyes shut and brought the gloves closer to her face; with a shuddering intake of breath, the pain became searing as his scent enveloped her. A small sob escaped her throat and a tear snuck down her face. **

**Kadaj…**

**The ferocity with which she missed him was unbearable. And she'd hurt him so, so badly; it would have been preferred that he'd been angry with her instead of his heart-wrenching begging. It broke her heart. It broke her as a person.**

**Kadaj…**

_**Linkin Park – "Pushing Me Away" (Reanimation remix)**_

**Meanwhile, Alexia was arriving at her home in the quiet countryside. The drive had given her time to get back into her head. Back to reality. It was nice to think of their time spent in another place, but that was then and this was now. **

**Killing the engine in her driveway, she actually laughed at herself.**

**No, it wasn't nice to remember that time. Because despite how amazing (and simultaneously difficult, what with all of them being stricken with Geostigma at some point or another) their time had been, it was over now. And remembering….remembering Yazoo's reaction as they'd drifted away from the shore…that was the worst part.**

_**Alexia and Yazoo just stared at each other very calmly at first.**_

_**But slowly, she watched as his relaxed hands balled into fists and his thin jaw clamped shut tightly. Yazoo furrowed his eyebrows and pursed his lips, trying anything he could not to scream.**_

_**It didn't work….**_

"_**I HATE YOU!" were the only words that escaped his lips as he watched her turn away for the last time.**_

**Because no matter how things had been, that's how they ended; that was the way the story wound up. **

**And frankly, that sucked.**

**Shaking the thoughts from her head, Alexia finally got out of her car and headed up the driveway.**

"**Jason?" she called into the house. In a weird way, at least the time spent talking with Alathea would help things with her boyfriend along. She had admittedly brightened up quite a bit just chatting with her, and that would make him happy. "Jas-?"**

**Jason sat motionless on the couch, scrutinizing a paper he was holding.**

"**There you are! Sorry I'm home so late. Thea and I got to chatting, and I lost track of the time. Thank you for the suggestion, though – I **_**should**_** see her more often. Have you eaten yet? I can warm up some…"**

**She trailed off, stopping just inside the kitchen. Jason hadn't even acknowledged her presense yet, let alone her new, chipper attitude.**

"**Jas?"**

**Finally, he sighed and looked up at her.**

"**What's up, honey? Something the matter?"**

**Jason continued to stare, then finally gave the infamous apologetic smile. Oh, no…not this again. She was **_**fine**_** now! Surely he could see that? **

**They looked at each other for a few moments before Jason finally spoke.**

"**There's more to the story, isn't there?"**

**Alexia's blood ran cold. **

**How could he-!**

"**Lex, I understand you wanting to protect me, but I think tonight I finally came to understand what happened while you were gone. You said before that it felt like a year, and I couldn't really wrap my mind around that." He paused, weighing his words. "I can now."**

**Alexia still stayed glued to the spot. She had no idea what she was supposed to be saying. Should she be defensive? Should she just let him go on? It seemed like she was going with option two, because he continued.**

"**I appreciate your posterity, Alexia. You came home and picked up right where you left off, even though you were a completely different person. I took advantage of that. I was selfish."**

**His face suddenly crumpled.**

"**Or maybe you were the selfish one, pinging back and forth between people to love you."**

**Alexia's heart briefly stopped, then broke into a gallop, pounding a deafening **_**thud, thud, thud**_ **in her ears as her mouth popped open in shock. She started to protest, but nothing came out; her throat was dry and what could she say at this point, anyway? Jason held up his hand to silence her.**

"**Look. It hurts. It hurts for both of us, and I understand that. I'm trying to deal with this revelation, and it's kind of difficult because there's literally nothing in this world to base it on. So I'm going to do us both a favor and just walk away."**

**Alexia's heart sank; she knew she shouldn't have kept what happened with her and Yazoo from him. But at the time, moving on meant something different then than it suddenly did now.**

"**Jason…" she choked out. A tear slid down her face as everything she'd fought for since she'd come home began to slip through her fingers. He walked over to her, lightly grasping her shoulders, and planted a soft kiss on the top of her head. He whispered into her hair, "I need to leave and remember you as the girl you were when we met. And I think we both know what you need to do."**

**He stepped away from her, holding her at arms length and taking a final look at her. His sad smile met his blue eyes.**

"**Goodbye, Alexia."**

**With that, he left her standing in the kitchen doorway, a mixed look of shock, hurt, and confusion riddling her face. She heard the door click shut, and the world seemed to stop. For about five minutes, she stood frozen to the spot. Within one day, her life had done a complete 180; she'd gone from distant to happy to detirmined to….alone.**

**How did Jason find out about what happened? The only person who knew what had happened was Thea. For a millisecond, she was furious at her best friend…then, she remembered the look of shock on Alathea's face when she'd turned up at her house. She hadn't known that they were about to see each other – in fact, she'd looked like Alexia was the last person she expected to see on the other side of the storm door. If Alathea'd been the one to tell Jason, she probably would have looked a little more terrified of the terror Alexia could wreak once wronged. No, it couldn't have been Thea.**

**Her eyes fell on the piece of paper Jas had been holding when she'd walked in – it now sat abandoned on the couch cushion. He'd seemed pretty wrapped up in it when she tried to speak to him…**

**Alexia darted across the room, snatching up the paper with shaking hands.**

**After a split second of studying it, her heart dropped into her stomach. **

**Fury overcame her.**


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

_Robert Miles – "Children" (Dream version)_

Alathea was sleeping deeply, her still form huddled into a ball and still clutching Kadaj's worn leather gloves, when a scream abruptly brought her back to the world of the waking. Her eyes snapped open and she blinked rapidly, waiting for the expired tears to stop clouding her vision. She was met with silence.

Maybe she had been dreaming…?

"YAZOO!"

The second scream had her tumbling out of bed and onto her feet. There was no mistaking it; that was Alexia's voice. She hopped into a pair of sandals and clumsily made her way down the stairs and out the door. Outside, the early fall night air was muggy, and as she ran towards the voice, she could feel her hair beginning to dampen and stick to her neck.

"YAZOO, COME HERE! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

Yazoo was here! Alathea's brain sputtered, trying to kick into some gear other than "freshly woken up in a startling fashion." Jogging into the backyard, her best friend came into focus.

"Lex! What are you doing?"

"YAZOO!"

"ALEXIA!"

Alexia was halfway up the fence separating Thea's yard from the football field when she heard her friend's voice and stopped. Alathea caught up to her and all but dragged her down to the ground. Alexia struggled, but not wildly.

"Lex…Lex! Look at me!"

She stopped and locked eyes with Alathea. Her hair was sticking to her face, and her chest was heaving up and down. She looked like she'd gone mad.

"Lex, what happened?"

Alexia finally seemed to snap out of it.

"He's here," she gulped.

"Yazoo? Yazoo's here?"

"He has to be!"

"What makes you say that?"

"Because," Alexia began, tugging a sheet of paper out of her back pocket, "_this_ is the reason Jason suddenly knows everything."

She handed the paper over to Alathea, who regarded it with a smile.

On the paper was a very familiar drawing that Alexia had found on the first night in Gaia. It depicted the two girls, grinning broadly with their arms around each other.

"Awwww. Blast from the past! But…I don't remember those two being in it?"

"They weren't."

Now standing on the outside of the girls were sketched versions of Yazoo and Kadaj, looking stoic and protective. Kadaj's eyes were lowered in a bashful, loving glance, and Yazoo's hand rested on Alexia's opposing hip. Alathea's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"So you brought this home, a-?"

"Nope."

Alathea stopped and opened her mouth to ask another question when suddenly, it all dawned on her.

Alexia hadn't packed the drawing.

The drawing had been altered…and planted in her home.

When Alexia noticed the look of recognition on her face, she continued.

"I worked so hard to get past the hurt of coming back home. I worked so, _so_ hard to forget him and move on with my life and do what was right to the people I'd known before it all happened. And now…?" she flailed a little bit and glared at the sky. "I have nothing!"

Alathea dared to interject.

"So, out of curiosity, you were out here screaming his name because…?"

"Because he's here. He _has _to be if he had the time to hand-deliver a drawing depicting us being linked romantically. Home wrecker," she spat.

"So you're calling him out."

"Yes. I'm going to kick his ass."

Alathea had to giggle.

"Okey doke. I'll come with you."

At that exact moment, a strong gust of wind blew through the backyard, startling the two of them. The wind kept up, and the night weather suddenly went from muggy to potentially stormy. They both instinctively looked to the sky and saw something very interesting; in the otherwise clear, black night sky was a rounded formation of clouds behind the stadium. The clouds slowly swirled within themselves, never breaking the circumference of the circle they made up.

"I'm going to guess we head that way." Alathea mused.

"Naturally. Every bizarre thing that should make us run away always seems to have our names embroidered in it."

A few minutes later, they'd almost reached the clouds, which appeared to be directly over the pond in the park behind the stadium.

"You don't suppose…this whole sketch…and cloudy thing…seems like a trap?" Alathea huffed to her friend, who jogged right next to her. Alexia glanced sideways at her, and she went on.

"Red Dream…was…Jenova's doing."

The two neared the end of the trail that took them to the pond, so they slowed to a walk to catch their breath.

"Doesn't it seem familiar?"

Alexia shook her head furiously. "If it was, we'd have that creepo's voice in our head, saying things like-"

_Hello girls._

The girls instantly screamed. Alexia's hands shot up defensively and Alathea almost ate it trying to run away.

_Don't go! Ugh. Zaaaaaack!_

_**Quit crying, princess. They'll get it in a minute.**_

A minute turned into 'right now' as soon as Zack's voice joined the first. It was the first time they'd been spoken to in their minds, not audibly, since being in Gaia. And the one person who'd been behind it sort of tried to kill them, so their first reaction was naturally not a good one.

"A…Aeris?" Alexia hesitantly called out.

_At your service, you little scaredy cat!_

Alexia actually cracked a smile. "What are you doing here?"

_I heard you might need a ride somewhere._

"Where's Yazoo?"

_Not here. I'm afraid you'll have to come with me if you feel like following through with roughing him up._

_**That's a fight I'd like to see!**_

_Shush, Zack! Now girls, if you'd be so kind as to walk into the pond. I don't think the weather people would take too kindly to what I've stirred up._

Obediently, the girls walked to the side of the pond and hesitantly stepped it. Alathea wrinkled her nose.

"It smells like duck shit."

_OH-WOULD-YOU-JUST-GET-IN!_

She frowned at Alexia, "Dead girls are impatient," to which she was greeted with a splash of lake muck to the face. As she sat in disgust, Zack's ghostly hysterical laughter invaded their brains. Alexia trudged through the water until it was up to her waist and took a deep breath.

"Let's go," she spoke to the sky.

The clouds above them broke into an instant downpour, and Alathea tried to scurry to her friend before visibility dropped to zero. She made it just in time, and the two exchanged a nervous look before the small-town tsunami quickly made the world around them turn to complete darkness.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

**_Robert Miles – "Children" (Dream Version continued)_**

In the next moment of lucidity, or what she thought was lucidity, all Alexia could see was a sea of dark green surrounding her, occasionally kissed by a faint shadow that would sweep by quickly and just at the edges of her vision. Each time they came through, there would be the slightest hint of a hushed voice behind it, which was a little creepy, albeit fascinating. She wanted to reach out and touch them, but…

In a moment of panic, Alexia realized that she couldn't move, or that there was nothing _to _move. She tried flailing, but she was met with frustration as she gazed out into the sea of nothing, moving around her tauntingly.

_Help… oh God, what is this?_ She thought frantically, and was surprised to hear a reply.

_Just 'Aeris' will do, darling. You're in the outskirts of the Lifestream! _Sang her perpetually musical voice.

Alexia sighed, or tried to at least. She was incredibly relieved that she wasn't dead, no offense meant to present company. Alathea's voice joined the conversation, though hesitantly. Neither girl was used to speaking through thoughts – up until this point, they'd only been on the receiving end of the voices in their heads.

_The…Lifestream? But last time we….went to Gaia, there was some device…?_

The night they were captured came back to her in small flashes as she tried to get to the good part. The fear that gripped them as they tried to hide, the devastation of not knowing what would happen when they were caught…they'd been dropped on their bottoms in the middle of the football field, and Kadaj had emptied a small leather bag….

_That joystick thing!_ Alexia mentally exclaimed, successfully finishing her friend's thoughts.

_Yes, that device was invented by Cid in an attempt to further his research on the space program; namely yours! You see, with that device, you could take anything from your world and bring it back with you, whether the will was there or not. His intent was to gather and duplicate blueprints and documents from your space program that he could study. Then Loz had Yuffie steal the device, like she does best, and bring it back to the remnants. Poor Cid never got to use it!_

_Of course, _laughed the voice that belonged to Zack, _you say 'poor Cid' now, but when the guy tried to head back to the shop to build another one, you flooded his lab so he couldn't!_

_ZACK, SHUT UP!_

_Hahaha it's true! She doesn't like not being the only means of otherworldly travel. Just like my princess._

You could almost hear the smile in Zack's voice as he teased the Ancient about her occasional love of the spotlight. And you could **definitely** almost hear Aeris stomping her invisible feet in embarrassed defiance while he did so.

_You said something about 'will?' _probed Alexia, and Aeris's attention was brought back to the girl.

_Yes. My way of getting from A to B is the way we're doing it at this moment, but the party doing the traveling needs to be willing to do so. My guess is that Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz knew you two would be running like Leviathan was on your tail, and boy were they right! _Her laughter tinkled through the ethereal landscape that they continued to pass through…or be passed by. _They knew you wouldn't want to come back, so Cid's invention then came into play._

_So when Alexia decided she was going to spread Yazoo's nose three feet wide across his face, and I decided I wanted to watch….? _Alathea began, and would have been grinning had she had a mouth to do so.

_That's when you became the willing party! _Aeris finished.

_And then the princess made a dramatic entrance, and the rest is history!_

Man, Zack was going to get it when they…physically existed again.

Silence overtook them for a few moments, and watched the ghostly swirls occasionally dance through her vision. She was floating up, down, left right. Hell, she may have just been floating in one place for all she knew. It was frustrating to not be able to feel her surroundings.

Suddenly, she huffed impatiently.

_I don't want to be here anymore…_

_So wake up, silly!_

**_Chemical Brothers – "Star Guitar"_**

Upon waking up, Alexia and Alathea were greeted by three faces gazing down at them with concern; Cloud, Tifa, and Yuffie eventually came into focus. Yuffie pumped her fist and jogged in place excitedly as they sat up, and Cloud knelt down next to them.

"Welcome back, girls…" he spoke softly and earnestly, with a touch of a hesitant smile. The last time the girls had been in Gaia, Cloud had acted as an antagonist, once again being made into a puppet for Jenova's benefit. He had done some awful things to them and the silver haired brothers as a direct result, but had eventually been brought back to himself when Aeris managed to heal them all. The light gently shone through the church's stained glass windows, now, giving Cloud a backlight that made his presence almost angelic.

Alexia then promptly leaned over and belched Aeris Water all over his boot. Alathea burst out laughing, and Cloud stalked off, grumbling something about rudeness.

"You're back!" Yuffie exclaimed, nearly tackling them both back to the floor with an enthusiastic hug. They laughed and did their best to return the affection, and Tifa helped them onto their feet.

"It's good to see you two again," she grinned, a much less violent greeting, "Yuffie's been going crazy waiting for Aeris to bring you back to us."

Alexia, dusting herself off from lying dormant on the church floor, bit her lip. "There were...stipulations that needed to be...adhered to."

Tifa didn't press any further, but began to lead them out of the long-abandoned building. Alathea fell into step with her while Yuffie commandeered Alexia's attention, bounding from one foot to the other and prodded her about what they'd been up to.

In the meantime, Alathea cast a sidelong glance at Tifa, whose mind appeared to be elsewhere.

"So...how much time has passed since we've been here? I know when we got home, it was like we never left. Does it work the same way, the _other_ way around?"

Tifa snapped out of her momentary reverie, shaking her head and giving her a sheepish look.

"It's been three years. I don't know the technicalities behind it, but it doesn't work the other way around. That's why everybody was able to watch you grow from pre-teens to the time you were 18 without becoming 90 years old themselves."

Alathea grimaced. For starters, she'd forgotten about the fact that someone had been around to watch her awkwardly stumble through puberty, first kisses, and her horrific punk rock phase...but to know that three years really _had_ passed in both of their universes made her incredibly nervous. How were they supposed to pick up the pieces at this point? So much could happen in that amount of time; there was no way of telling what they were about to face.

Tifa read her expression flawlessly and gave her what she hoped was an unbiased, Reader's Digest version of current events.

"Cloud, myself, and the kids still live in our apartment over the bar in Edge. Barrett's been continuing his search to strike it rich in the oil industry, but he's managed to climb into more of a management position...y'know, more or less telling people where to dig instead of having to go there himself. Gives him more time to come see Marlene when he can."

Alathea nodded, eager to hear more. Incredibly eager, actually.

"The others tend to stay gone, but intermittently stop by every couple of months for updates. Or for special occasions." She winked at Alathea, who still hadn't heard _exactly_ what she was hoping to.

"Um...when you say 'the others', you mean...?"

"Vincent, Cid, and Red XIII."

Alathea tried not to show it, but her face fell a little. Once again, Tifa was quick to pick up on it.

"The...silver-haired brothers..." Alathea's heart skipped a beat. "They're in town now."

Tifa was weighing her words very carefully.

"Circumstances have changed...they still don't have a stellar relationship with Cloud, but that's mostly on Cloud. You have to understand, he missed months of his life under _her_ control and still hasn't grasped the concept that Sephiroth's remnants were on our side. He definitely understands to a degree, but it's hard for him to not link them with Jenova. He...has trust issues."

Alathea snorted, and the two laughed at the expense of poor Cloud, who was now waiting impatiently by his motorbike just outside of the church...along with an airship. Alexia gasped as she gazed at the gargantuan vehicle as one by one, familiar faces popped into view through the deck's windows.

"S'about time you dumbasses made your way back to Gaia!" heartily barked a rough voice through what sounded like an intercom, and Alexia laughed.

"Hi to you too, Cid!"

Tifa nudged Alathea. "Your homecoming counts as a special occasion." She then climbed onto the back of Cloud's motorbike. "See you guys at the bar?"

They took off, and Yuffie, Alexia, and Alathea trotted over to the massive airship, filing up the dock that had been lowered to allow them entrance. Alathea was practically vibrating with excitement, and while Alexia was eager to see her old friends, it was all dawning on her now what she had to face. Despite her anger towards Yazoo, her memories of him watching her float away on that vessel still broke her heart. What had she gotten herself into, coming back here?

The party on the deck moved inside, where Cid seated himself at the helm and fired up Shera's engines. The girls sat in awe, being able to enjoy the luxuries of the incredible ship for the first time; the last couple times they'd traveled on it, their heads had been full of silver-haired drama and the battles that awaited them when they arrived at their destination. There was no time to take in the gorgeously ornate, two-leveled deck; the see-through floors and the glass wall that stretched all the way around the room. Sitting in this room while traveling gave you the feeling of flying, but without the help of machinery. It truly was a modern marvel.

The crew was thoughtful enough to give Alexia and Alathea some time to themselves; at least for the 15 minute journey back to Edge. They sat, overwhelmed, at the very brink of where the glass floor met the enormous window, taking advantage of the once-in-a-lifetime view of Gaia passing below.

"The men are in town," Alathea spoke under her breath to her friend, who visibly stiffened. "Tifa says there are 'circumstances' surrounding it, and that they aren't exactly best buddies with Cloud yet, but they're around. Thought I'd give you a heads up so you could get your stretches in before taking a swing at your former beloved."

Alexia laughed, in spite of her torn feelings. Sure, since Jason had left that altered picture behind, she had envisioned beating Yazoo senseless in a thousand different scenarios...including a particularly humorous one where she choked him out using his own hair. But now that the opportunity was growing closer, she wasn't quite sure how she was going to handle it. He hadn't always been her enemy, after all...

"What exactly is our agenda here...after I wipe the floor with him, that is?" Alexia amiably asked, trying her best to avoid anymore talk of the impending squabble. Alathea shrugged; it was easy to see that she was just glad to be back. Sensing that she wasn't going to get much more out of her friend, Alexia continued.

"I mean...as far as I know, there's no more clone army. No more big, bad enemies for us to have to fight...not that we could, anyway." Now that the Lilyous had exhausted the abilities of their race, they couldn't access that part of them, anymore.

Suddenly, a figure appeared in the reflection of the glass wall; a ninja-shaped figure. The girls spun around to once again face Yuffie, who was tightly clenching a notebook to her chest and wore an expression somewhere between extreme happiness and the look a child has when they're about to pee themselves.

"Hiya, Yuffie." Alexia smiled, despite the interruption. "You look like you're about to burst...what's u-"

"I'M GETTING MARRIED!" Yuffie screeched, making everybody on deck flinch; Vincent even ducked. From there, Yuffie took off into a conversational sprint.

"Loz proposed to me a year ago, and I said yes, and now we're getting married and I think it'll be in the old church in Midgar, even though it needs A LOT of restoration. And I asked Tifa to be my maid of honor, and she said yes, but Loz has too many brothers and you are the only other girls I know, and even though you probably don't want to be here I _really missed you _and it would make me really happy if you were to be my bridesmaids."

The girls sat, wide-eyed and motionless on the floor.

"O...kay!" Alathea agreed, and Yuffie let out another victory screech. (Vincent left the room.) She threw the notebook she was holding at their feet, and the girls saw sketches of faceless women wearing...dresses?

"Those are the bridesmaid dresses. They're silver and yellow; the colors of Wutai! They're a little hiked up, but that's the tradition in my country. We were at war a lot, and skirmishes could break out at any point in time, so dresses are tailored to be breathable. Cause you can't really fight to the death in a long skirt!"

"Tell Aeris tha-too soon." Alexia started, and a tsunami of rain hit the airship, knocking it off course for about two seconds.

The storm was gone as quickly as it had come, and the airship soon docked in Edge. The party spilled out of the ship and made their way to 7th Heaven, where Cloud, Tifa, Marlene, Barrett, and Denzel all stood outside to greet them. After exchanging hellos and hugs, Tifa directed the girls into the bar and up the stairs. There was a large guest bedroom set up with two beds and...God love them, all of their belongings neatly stored away into labeled boxes that sat along the wall.

Before leaving the room, Tifa turned to them.

"You guys should get some rest; I hear that Aeris Airways is one hell of a way to travel. Oh, and there's a homecoming party downstairs for you guys tonight, so you should be nice and alert by 8pm." She laughed to herself as she shut the door, and the girls collapsed onto their respective beds, exhausted.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Roughly an hour or so later, Alathea awoke to a peculiar sound; rolling over, she noticed Alexia perched at the edge of her bed, intently scribbling something on a piece of paper.

"Whatchadoon..?" Alathea yawned, pulling herself into a sitting position. Alexia looked up from her handywork and gave her a sheepish smile.

"Making a list of things to do now that we're back in town," she replied, twirling the pencil in her hand, "I figured that if we're here, we should go see our old haunts if possible. Maybe head down to the club and see if we can get our jobs back."

A thrill went through Alathea, but she tried not to show it. Of course, Alexia noticed anyway and launched her pillow across the room, scoring a direct hit to the side of her friend's head.

"You want to stay!" Alathea jeered playfully, grinning ear-to-ear while she fixed her hair back into place, "You took one look at that airship and all of our old friends, and that was it for you, wasn't it?"

Alexia giggled, but her face fell a little.

"Thea, I've got nothing to go home to, anymore. Besides you, Jason was my one link to the world we were raised in... and not only did he leave me, he _told_ me to come back here."

Alathea's mood immediately sobered. "I...guess I didn't know the whole story. I'm sorry for being so insensitive. Guess the potential to see Kadaj clouded my judgement..."

"Pfff!" Alexia's reaction snapped her friend out of her apology speech. "It's no use pretending we were happier where we were. We loved it here - every second of it. And even when I'm done kicking Yazoo's ass, there's so much of this world that I want to see without having to worry about bitchy aliens ruining it for me. We can be here and be happy."

Alathea once again grinned like a moron and launched herself off the bed.

"Come on. It's 6:30 now; we've got an hour and a half to get ready for our party, and you need to look hot before you can kiss Yazoo's ass."

"_Kick_ his ass, Thea."

"You just keep telling yourself that, if it helps you sleep at night."

After one more _thwack_ to Thea's head with a pillow, the girls dragged out the old stereo and put on some music to dance to while they got ready, trying to get the immense amount of tension out of their systems.

_(Cascada - "Fever")_

It had been a long time since either girl had any reason to primp for company; Alathea had been single for quite some time and hung up on someone living in an alternate universe, while Alexia had been in a zombie-like state for the past year. Poor Jason, in hindsight, for trying so hard to bring her back to the way she finally felt now, back here in Gaia.

In fact, the feelings surging through the two friends now were nearly intoxicating; to have the ability to laugh freely and feel their self-worth was incredible. Alexia wore her signature red spaghetti-strapped blouse that hugged one hip while the other side stretched to mid-thigh, coupled with black leggings and a pair of pumps. Her black hair was styled into thick curls that cascaded down her back.

Alathea naturally wore her green ruffled blouse and straightened her long, blonde hair to the point that it felt like silk between her fingers. Coupled with a dark pair of jeans and shoes that matched her friend's, she was confident that they were (over)dressed-to-kill. Tifa herself had said that it was a special occasion; why not go a little overboard? Besides, what with the tendency for things to not only get crazy, but violent around here, it was worth trying to enjoy the good times while they stuck around. Heaven knew that when your group of friends had saved the world not once, but twice, trouble tended to find you.

_(Erika - "I Don't Know")_

At 8:00 on the dot, the two girls descended down the stairs and into the bar, where they were greeted by just about everybody...except for 4 notable people, but that was to be expected. Marlene sprinted over, grabbing them both of them by the shirts and doing her best to tug them over to a long table set up in the middle of the bar.

"Look! Tifa baked it and Denzel and I decorated it!" She squealed happily, pointing to a monstrous sheet cake that acted as the table's centerpiece. Alathea and Alexia could barely contain their laughter when they saw that the cake, indeed, was quite "monstrous."

The delicious-looking vanilla cake with buttercream frosting was adourned with "artwork" depicting the girls transformed into Lilyous. It seemed as if Denzel had drawn one and Marlene the other; one "Lilyou" had muscles not unlike that of a professional wrestler, baring her teeth and holding the bloody head of a Sephiroth clone with his eyes X'd out. The other had a large amount of detail applied to the dreadlocked hair and wore a lilac skirt with lipstick and toenails to match. It was adorable, if you calculated in the factor of the children having accidentally been exposed to apocalyptic environments. At the very least, they hadn't turned into homicidal tyrants, so that was good.

They hugged and thanked the children for their artwork, Denzel earnestly asking Alexia if he could have the piece with the bloody head on it. He'd make a really good warrior-turned-delivery-boy some day.

The party then went into full-swing, Tifa serving drinks from behind the bar and everybody else cycling the room, throwing money in the new-and-improved jukebox and partaking in conversation. Alathea and Alexia tried to get their fellow female comrade out from behind the bar to enjoy the party, but she politely declined, claiming that this place would fall into chaos if she didn't man the drink-serving helm.

The girls then moved to the enormous table, listening earnestly to the stories of the party's first take on saving the world from Jenova and laughing along when hearing about Barrett dressed as a sailor when they docked in Junon. Naturally, the grizzly bear of a man blushed scarlet and vehemently denied that he spent _the whole day_ in front of the mirror, muttering words that made Marlene giggle and demand gil for her Swear Jar.

Vincent approached them, letting them know that he was still willing to train with them, despite the active gene that made them transform now lying permanently dormant.

"You," he gently patted Alexia's shoulder with his claw, "showed great skill with firearms. I'm sure you haven't fallen too far off the path. The world could always use well-trained warriors, even if there isn't an immediate threat at hand."

Alexia smiled as politely as possible. The last time she had trained with Vincent, she had run away screaming about how freaky he was...and now that he didn't have Cerberus pointed at her back, he was only slightly freaky. If he would just brush his damned hair and do something about those ragged clothes, she was sure the people at the cell phone kiosks would actually teach him how to use a phone instead of closing three hours early when they saw him coming.

"I would appreciate the training...I'm just not sure where my old battle gear is these days." She muttered honestly. When she packed her duffle bag for the trek back home, her outrageous gunblades certainly didn't make the cut to be stowed away.

Cid popped by to let them know that anytime they needed it, the Shera was at their disposal. Red XIII had been trotting by at that very moment, and he paused to lie on his hindquarters, listening.

"She took a little abuse when we were trying to get it out of those cold-ass mountains, but the Shera can definitely make longer trips than the one from the ruins of Midgar to Edge. If ya ever need a change of scenery, have Feather Head over there give me a call and I'll getcha a lift," Cid explained, motioning to Cloud.

"If you don't mind my saying so," Red politely interjected, "I've been doing some research in Cosmo Canyon regarding your ancestry. Perhaps you can visit and have a look at what I've found, should you take Cid up on his offer."

Alathea nodded in agreement; she knew that the two girls could use some insight about their mysterious past, though up until this point, she didn't know that information may even be available. It would certainly be interesting to hear more about the Lilyou race.

_(Muse - "I Belong to You")_

Alexia was turning to head to the bar for a drink when the door opened, momentarily hushing the room; she kept on walking, taking no notice of it until she heard a deep, smooth voice.

"Cloud."

She stiffened, afraid to turn around, and heard Alathea let out a slight gasp behind her. Cloud turned from his seat at the bar and nodded his greeting.

"Sephiroth."

He got out his seat and, as casually as he could, made his way through the bar while everybody else tried to liven the air with forced conversation. They, of course, had no reason to fear Sephiroth or his brothers, but they knew that the foursome being here meant an instant elephant in the room.

When Cloud reached his former nemesis, the two began to talk shop. Something about a clinic in Mideel being wrapped up, and setting off again after the wedding. Alathea took this opportunity to saddle up to her best friend, who still hadn't had the nerve to turn around. She wrapped a clammy hand around Alexia's forearm.

"They're here."

Finally, the two girls turn to face the doorway. While Sephiroth had eased into the room with no problem, two figures stood just outside of the premises, as if bound by an invisible barrier.

Kadaj stood with his mouth agape, locking eyes with Alathea from across the slightly crowded room. In the limited time that they had kept eye contact, many different emotions flickered across each of their expressions: surprise, longing, sadness... Yazoo and Alexia had also experienced the instant locked gazes, except that after Yazoo had went through the initial (pleasant?) shock, his jaw set and he muttered something to his brother, who finally snapped out of it to listen to him. The two began speaking hurriedly, occasionally shaking their heads and motioning dramatically. Apparently, they hadn't gotten the memo that the girls were back in town.

"Lex, are you okay?" Alathea frantically whispered to her friend, who looked like she was about to burst with..._something._ Alexia growled and balled her hands into fists.

"I should...he's so...UGH!" she exclaimed, and took a threatening step towards the brothers. At that moment, Loz bounded between his silver-haired comrades and into the room, sweeping Yuffie off her feet and into the air. She laughed hysterically and wrapped herself around him, and in a fit of weirdness that could only belong to the two of them, started playfully gnawing on his shoulder.

Alathea and Alexia exchanged a look that seemed to communicate the same thought: _Not right now._

Alexia stepped back, trying not to fume so visibly, and placated herself by watching the future spouses-to-be.

"You're late!" Yuffie accused, still grinning. Loz's face fell apologetically.

"I'm sorry, Yuff...there was some weird red tape we had to cut through in Mideel, and it set our schedule back a few days. They're still working on rebuilding the town as a whole, and didn't think that the clinic was in their budget. But it's so close to the Lifestream - they were more at risk for re-exposure than so many other places...!" he exclaimed, getting lost in his anxiety.

"Shhhhh. I'm not angry with you. You had a very important job to do, and I won't hold it against you."

Loz smiled, but something flickered in his eyes.

"Honey, what?"

He lowered his head, shamefully.

"We have to bump the wedding up, if that's okay...?" He tested. Yuffie smiled and responded,

"Sure, sweetheart...to when?"

"This week."

Yuffie froze and went completely wide-eyed for a moment. From across the room, it was easy to tell she was calculating how much would need to be rearranged to manage throwing it together so soon.

"O...kay. But I'll have to call all the guests and let them know. Ohhhhhhh crap. I hope they can get reimbursed for their tickets. They'll be so much more expensive getting them now...!" She worried aloud. Cid rolled his eyes and called over his shoulder,

"Yeah, 'cause you don't know anybody with a proper airship that could get everybody here on time, or anything!"

Yuffie blushed, but looked as if 10 lbs had been lifted from her shoulders.

"Okay. I'll handle it. But why the date change?"

Now that Loz had gotten the worst part over with, he spoke with ease.

"Mideel screwed the schedule up, so the job we were going to do next is taking place a month from now. And we're squeezing in a very special beachside clinic...where my brothers got us a villa as our honeymoon suite."

Yuffie squealed and climbed all over him again, planting kisses on every exposed inch of his face and neck.

"No working on our honeymoon?"

"Of course not."

"Good. Marry me on Saturday, okay?"

Loz roared with laughter and gently set his fiancee down, heading back towards the entrance and nodding at Sephiroth while he passed. With that, the silver-haired men departed, Kadaj and Yazoo sending one last telling glance towards the women who stood frozen to the spot.

When the door closed, nobody moved, but six sets of eyes landed on Alexia and Alathea. Yuffie was the only one who dared to speak.

"So...dress fitting tomorrow, then?"


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

After the incident with Sephiroth and his brothers, the party took it upon themselves to keep Alexia and Alathea busy, distracting them with stories, questions, and drinks until sleep threatened to take them from right there on their barstools. It had been made obvious to them that the air between the two former couples was heavy with tension, and the last thing they wanted was for their old friends to get discouraged so early on in their visit.

It was when Alexia, nibbling on her plastic cup, began dozing off while sitting up that the party decided it would be a good time to break things up. Alathea sleepily stumbled her way back up to the bedroom while Barrett heaved a deadpan Alexia over his shoulder and carried her to bed. There had been no time to talk about the shellshock of seeing their former flames; all they could think of now was how soft their beds were underneath them. And then it was morning.

"Rise and shiiiiine, sleepyheads!" Yuffie called in a singsong voice at the crack of 10 AM. Alathea groaned, throwing her arm over her eyes to avoid anymore signs of life creeping into her senses, and Alexia tried her best to scoot even further down into her blankets. Yuffie huffed impatiently, loudly tapping her foot on the wooden floors, and Tifa entered the room behind her, two hot cups of coffee in hand. Alexia's hand responsively shot out from under the blankets, the universal signal for "give please." Alathea merely peeked out from behind her forearm.

"We have appointments at 11 for Gallo's Bridal Boutique at the other end of town. When Yuff called the dressmakers in Wutai, it was thankfully early in the day for them, so they were able to get the dresses put together and shipped expeditedly," Tifa gently spoke, setting a cup of coffee down on Alathea's nightstand and carring Alexia's to her, who was now finally able to sit up.

"Have you slept at _all_?" Alathea inquired, taking a good look at the bags under the Wutai princess's eyes. She grinned back in what she hoped was an encouraging response, but instead looked a lot like a cracked-out pandhandler. This would make for an interesting day.

_(Dario G. - "Sunchyme")_

A half hour or so later, the four women took off on the pair of motorbikes Cloud kept stored away in the bar's back lot. The ride to the bridal shoppe didn't take long, but Alexia and Alathea enjoyed the ride nonetheless; it gave them time to get re-oriented with the city's layouts...places they'd frequented and places they made mental notes to go visit. They parked in front of the boutique that was undoubtedly adorable. It was squeezed between two gray, towering masses of buildings, but was more than inviting with its well-lit and classy storefront.

"Velcome to Gallooooo's!" called a strange, small man behind the register upon their walking in. He hopped down off of his stool and scurried over to the group, tutting excitedly.

"Oh! You haff das messy hair," he exclaimed, rushing around and hurriedly brushing the windswept knots out of each respective girl's mane. They each winced and felt the strong desire to dropkick the employee, though they knew his intention wasn't to rip their hair out, but to spoil them.

"I am Daveeed," he spoke with a short bow, as soon as he'd finished terrorizing them, "You must be the Kisaragi party?"

"Yep! Nice to meet you Daveed." Yuffie replied with enthusiasm, and the shopkeeper shook his head.

"No-no. Is _Daveeed._"

"Er. Yes, Daveed."

"No! _DAVEEEED._"

Yuffie gave Tifa a pleading look, who interjected.

"Thank you, David. Would you please take us back to get fitted?"

"Yes, yes. Right away!"

Yuffie pouted, but led the group to the fitting rooms, which matched the storefront in its plush, luxurious feel. David once again scurried to the front of the store, and two plain-looking attendees took his place (much to the relief of the women.) They were all handed their respective dresses and tucked away into the curtained sections to begin trying them on.

For a few minutes, the only sounds coming from the circular room were the shuffling of clothing and the grunts of squeezing into the dresses. Finally, Alexia decided to get the conversation rolling in the direction she wanted.

"So about last night...I thought I overheard something about clinics? What was, er, Loz talking about?" she called out over her curtain. Somewhere across the room, Yuffie answered from her bay.

"Oh, yeah. Well, after the most recent battle with Jenova and her clones, it was made pretty obvious to the rest of the world that Sephiroth and his brothers weren't actually the bad guys. Sometime after you..uh..left, the WRO got involved and decided that they would make an exchange with them." Yuffie replied, huffing as she tried to zip up the back of her own dress. Tifa, in another bay, continued.

"The WRO is an organization funded by ShinRa. Their goal is to restore the world, both in peace and in the re-building of places formerly destroyed by mako reactors and anything ShinRa had their hands in at the time. They would help Seph and his brothers gain a good public image if, _oh-my-God-this-dress-is-tight_. If they lended their strength and abilities to the organization."

"By building clinics? But what are the clinics for?" Alathea grunted, squaring her back against the wall for leverage while she tried to wiggle her bottom passed the hips in the garment. God, three years and apparently she'd put on some weight.

"Tifa, can you come zip me? The clinics are to give vaccinations to those still afflicted by geostigma. Midgar wasn't the only place that got a blast of Jenova cells to the dome. Anyplace that had a mako reactor in it at one point in time usually wound up having infected people in it, so they're going around to all the major cities and building clinics to help those in need," Yuffie explained, sweeping out of her bay and waiting for Tifa to finish dressing.

With one last gargantuan effort, Alexia finished zipping up the remainder of her dress. She heaved a sigh of relief and contributed to the conversation.

"You said a vaccination? I thought the water blessed by Aeris was the only solution?" she inquired, also coming out of her dressing bay. She had to shuffle, the skirt was so tight. The attendees noticed right away and swept over to her, picking at the seams and making tiny adjustments while she stood talking to Yuffie. Alathea squirmed out of her bay, looking equally uncomfortable; while the butt had been too small, she had to help hold up the busty part of the dress. She exchanged a look with Alexia.

Finally, Tifa emerged from her bay and it took everything in the group's power to not fall over in bouts of laughter. Tifa had always had big...assets, but this dress had her so squished up that her chin was practically resting on them. She, too, was red in the face but trying to bite back a smile while she finished zipping Yuffie up, who was the only one in the group that didn't need adjusting. In fact, she looked gorgeous. Tifa turned to Alexia.

"Yes, the water Aeris blessed _is_ the only solution, so the science division at the WRO has teamed up with Cloud to help collect samples for the vaccination. Technically, he could go anywhere that the surface cracks and teems with Lifestream, but he prefers the church for the privacy. And of course, Aeris always cooperates. It's actually a pretty good system."

The girls spent the next hour or so exhaustingly getting pricked and tugged around in the halter-style dresses that landed at mid-thigh. It wasn't exactly your typical bridesmaid wear, but the point of a bridesmaid is to compliment the bride...and wearing skanky dresses would certainly give Yuffie the advantage in class. But in the end, after all the alterations had been made, the women really didn't look half-bad in them. It would be a bit of a physically trying day, trying to make their way around in them, but it was Yuffie's big day and nobody was about to complain.

The next two days were spent with everybody hurriedly helping the bride-to-be get things set up for the impending wedding. Barrett, Cloud, and Cid spent hours in the ruins of Midgar, replacing the pews and stained-glass windows that had grown musty over time. They decidedly left the hole in the ceiling, as well as the garden down below; it would have practically been a sin to alter something that had been such a physical staple in their lives. Besides, Aeris needed to be represented somehow, and this was the one place in Gaia that she had always had a connection to.

Sephiroth, his brothers, and Tifa got the reception hall in Costa del Sol ready; the men helped move the tables around, and Tifa lended a womanly hand with the pristine decorations and seating arrangements. Yuffie spent her time rearranging plans with the catorers and guests, making sure to communicate with Cid the needs for travel arrangements. Alexia and Alathea simply tried to stay out of the way while watching Denzel and Marlene, who would act as the ringbearer and flower girl.

_(Circ - "Destroy She Said")_

Finally, the night before the wedding was upon them, and the four women sat alone in 7th Heaven, taking a well-deserved break before the big day. Yuffie was mostly staring vacantly ahead, providing one-worded answers to the questions aimed her way. They were sure that in total, she'd maybe received 5 hours of sleep this whole week. They had just finished laughing about the sight of Red XIII getting caught in a bundle of streamers (he still had cat-like reactions) when Tifa suddenly switched gears.

"What happened with you two and Sephiroth's brothers?" she earnestly asked, her chestnut eyes wide with curiosity. She had her chin resting on the heel of her hand and lazily swung her free leg back and forth by the barstool. Alexia and Alathea looked at each other for a moment before Alexia answered.

"We wanted to go back home to see what we were missing." It was a simple answer, but the truth nonetheless. She nervously played with the label on her drink and bit her lip, waiting for the interview to go on. TIfa nodded for a moment.

"Did you find what you were looking for back home?"

"My boyfriend from there dumped me," Alathea fielded, ruefully grinning, "I was depressed. He got tired of hearing it."

"Depressed?"

"Mmm. I thought that being ripped away from my home land meant that I had things to finish there, but I didn't. I missed being here, and I missed-I just really missed this place."

"Kadaj, you mean."

Alathea's mouth popped open, then closed again. She sighed in response.

"What about you, Alexia?" Tifa redirected, still smiling about Alathea's awkward admission.

Alexia looked up from her drink, weighing her words.

"I...I was feeling pretty low as well. My boyfriend didn't dump me - not immediately anyway - but my attitude was wearing him down. But then..." her eyebrows furrowed angrily, suddenly recalling the memory, "Then Jason found out about Yazoo and I. I know it was my fault, not telling him, but-"

"But you were trying to keep him safe. I know what you mean." Tifa finished, an understanding look washing over her complexion. God knew that if anybody understood a complicated relationship, it was Tifa. Alexia felt a knot in her stomach unwind, relief flowing through her. She blinked back the tears that threatened to spill onto her cheeks.

"I wanted to do the right thing. _Of course_ I missed Yazoo, but at the time I just wanted some normalcy in my life," Alexia scoffed, wiping a rogue tear away with the back of her hand, "I should've known then that 'normal' doesn't apply with me. But damn Yazoo for taking things into his own hands! That wasn't his decision to make!"

Tifa gave her an inquisitive look, but a sudden _bang!_ snapped everybody out of the intense conversation. Yuffie was facedown on the circular table, her arms dangling helplessly at her sides. It looked as if her body had finally won.

Since it was the night before the wedding, and it was bad luck for the bride and groom to see each other, the women didn't have a long way to haul Yuffie to the pull-out bed in Alathea and Alexia's bedroom. It was a complicated trek up the stairs, and they may have accidentally ricocheted the bride-to-be off a few railings and walls, but it was nothing that couldn't be covered up with heavy duty makeup the next day, should it bruise.

Finally, Yuffie was splayed spread-eagle across the futon breathing heavily through her mouth, and the other three women quietly exchanged their goodnights. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

_(Kaskade - "It's You It's Me")_

A full night's sleep had all but added fuel to the fire for Yuffie's anxiety. Once again on the deck of the Shera, she paced up and down the room until Tifa threatened to tie her down.

"I c-c-can't help it!" Yuffie exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air and nearly losing her enormous bouquet. She'd spent the good part of the last half hour tripping over her wedding dress, _swish swish swish_ing across the floor and driving her bridesmaids up the wall.

Tifa suddenly stood, crossing the room and digging through a chest that sat in the corner. She finally pulled out a Remedy and fell into her battle stance, although not too easily with her alarmingly tight skirt.

"If you do not stop pacing this instant, I will knock the Berserk right out of you. And I really, _really_ want you to actually remember your wedding day," she threatened, holding the object at arms' length and pointing it directly at her comrade's head. Yuffie faltered, opening her mouth to protest, but sighed in resignation and gently plopped herself down next to Alathea and Alexia.

Tifa smiled, tossing the Remedy back in the chest and crossing the room to kneel in front of her friend. Yuffie glanced up, panic obvious behind her big brown eyes.

"Teef, I'm losing my mind! I can't help but feel like I've forgotten to do something! And I'm just so scared about this whole process, suddenly..." she pleaded. Tifa smiled, placing a hand on her knee.

"We've taken care of everything that needs tending to. Every catorer, guest, DJ, and member of the wedding party is completely prepared for today's schedule - I _promise._" she assurred, and Yuffie almost looked relieved. Almost. Sensing that her duty as maid-of-honor wasn't quite finished, she continued.

"Outdated traditions aside, would you want to spend your life with Loz, regardless?"

Yuffie nodded, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.

"Then stop worrying about today! At the end of the day, no matter what happens, you're promised to each other. Of course this is your day, but you have years and years to spend together - getting shorted on wedding cake or tripping on your way down the aisle isn't going to determine the rest of your life."

The thought of tripping down the aisle obviously added another fear to Yuffie's mental checklist, but she swallowed it down and nodded bravely.

"Thanks, Tifa."

Alexia and Alathea watched the conversation with smiles playing on their faces. Despite their own love lives that were more or less equivelent to a pile of chocobo shit, it was really nice to see someone else's working out. And Tifa had been at 110% on the best friend front - how did she always have her act together? She was so..._motherly; _but naturally, with a healthy dose of "have fun or I will beat you within an inch of your life." Once a warrior, always a warrior, it seemed.

Suddenly, there were the sound of childish giggles, and Denzel and Marlene came flying through the engine room doors, one chasing the other. Marlene looked supremely adorable in her little yellow dress and Denzel complimented her well with his white dress shirt and yellow tie. They looked like a tiny couple going to prom, except with the prom queen spilling flower petals all over the deck of an dangerous airship.

Next through the doors were Sephiroth, Kadaj, and Yazoo, looking...well...

Alexia's mouth ran dry at the sight of her former boyfriend. For a moment, it was incredibly difficult for her to remember that she was supposed to be angry with him. Under his black tux was a yellow vest, white shirt, and yellow tie; the wedding colors were yellow and silver, and his hair ironically served as part of the dress code, though tied back at the nape of his neck like Sephiroth's. Alexia's eyes caught at the exposed sight of his jawline and throat. How many times had she planted kisses along that jaw after a heated (in many ways) training session? Sprawled out on the floor of the battle dome, laughing about shooting each other in the rear-ends. Those were such good days...

Yazoo, too, looked ravenously enamoured with the done-up bridesmaid. Her dark curls were piled on top of her head in an elegant updo, as were Alathea's, but his eyes couldn't quite stop there. He searched over the curves of her body, visibly remembering the feel of them.

At the same time, however, they seemed to recall their discontent with the other and looked away.

Kadaj and Alathea couldn't seem too, though. The second Alathea set eyes on Kadaj in his groomsman get-up, her breath caught in her throat and her body seemed to catch fire. She tried to play it cool, giving a slight, courteous nod to him. In turn, all he did was smile tantalizingly, and Alathea almost burst.

"Tifa, are you ready?" Sephiroth politely asked in his velvety voice, offering his elbow for the walk down the aisle. Tifa nodded, standing from her kneeling position next to Yuffie. Before she walked to Sephiroth, she gave a wink over her shoulder,

"See you on the other side, kiddo. He's going to go ballistic in the best way when he sees you walking down the aisle." she teased, and Yuffie's cheeks turned a delicate crimson, completing her look of the blushing bride.

The dock lowered, and the group waited until they could hear the music start from inside the church before Sephiroth and Tifa began their walk. Since the doors to the church opened directly into the chancel and there wasn't an auxillary room to prepare in, they had to start in the airship, clear about 30 feet outside of the church, then make their way in and down the aisle.

Alexia and Yazoo were next. They quietly situated themselves next to each other, counted to 10, and began their walk. Alexia took hold of Yazoo's upper arm to make it down the dock, but once they touched the ground she let go and distracted herself by holding her bouquet with both hands. However, it didn't do anything for the intensity of feelings silently pinging back and forth between the two of them. The 30 feet between the airship and church felt like an eternity; Alexia wasn't sure whether she wanted to start the brutal tongue-lashing he deserved right then and there, ravage him, or both. She opted for neither, but it wasn't without difficulty.

Yazoo seemed to be dealing with his own internal battle, his lips pressing into a firm, thin line while they crossed the distance between the airship and the church. When they stepped inside, his expression flitted to a mild interest for the sake of being watched. Alexia felt immediate relief, what with the distraction of music to fill the air and people to smile at while she walked. When they closed in at the altar and turned away from each other, she let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding and shakily made her way to Tifa's side.

Back at the airship, Alathea gently slipped her arm into Kadaj's, her traitorous heart drumming loudly in her ears. She could swear anybody within a 5 mile radius could hear it and concentrated on not letting her legs give out on the descent down the dock. Kadaj initially tensed at her touch, but relaxed by the time they had made it to the floor. Neither of them knew what to say or if to say it at all; they couldn't just as well have a conversation down the aisle, but there was nothing meaningful that could be covered between the Shera and the church. They opted for an aching silence.

Alathea spent the entire walk down the aisle politely smiling at the guests and doing her best to ignore the fact that every cell in her body was screaming in response to the proximity of Kadaj. It was anybody's guess what was on his mind, but when they turned to their respective wedding parties, he casually grazed her fingers with his free hand. Alathea immediately stumbled and tried to disguise it into an eager half-jog to get to Alexia's side. The girls did their best to have a silent conversation with their expressions as Marlene and Denzel distracted the guests with a precocious walk down the aisle.

_(Muse - "Blackout")_

The guests stood and the music smoothly transitioned into the wedding march as Yuffie appeared at the doorway to the church, her arm linked with her father's. The girls snuck a glance at Loz and hoped they'd never forget it; he looked like he'd just glimpsed at the face of an angel. Sephiroth smirked and touched his brother's shoulder encouragingly, and they continued to watch Yuffie's descent down the aisle. It was easy to believe that she was the happiest girl in Gaia; though she tried to occasionally smile at the guests standing to watch her walk, she couldn't seem to tear her eyes away from her future husband, nor could she keep the excited grin off of her face. Godo gave his daughter away to Loz as tradition called for, and Loz looked eternally grateful. Yuffie did, too, though it may have had something to do with making it all the way down the aisle without tripping.

The two stood at the altar, exchanging vows without ever breaking eye contact, save for when they put their respective wedding rings on each other. Aeris's garden provided a beautiful backdrop; even the small pond that had formed behind the altar played into the ethereal feel of the ceremony. The sunlight shining through the hole in the roof reflected off the water and danced on the skin of the bride and groom, and you could swear that Aeris herself probably had a hand in it. Even in the afterlife, she was such a hopeless romantic.

"...you may kiss the bride," spoke the pastor, and the couple closed the distance between them within a half second of his saying so. The guests stood and cheered, and even Vincent was grinning from ear-to-ear as Yuffie and Loz nearly swallowed each other up on the spot. They broke away from the official kiss, stars in their eyes, and turned to face the pews. The cheering went up two octaves, and they waved as they made their way back up the aisle. Loz had scooped her up before they even made it to the last pew and took off in a sprint towards the airship. You could hear Yuffie's hysterical giggling from the altar.

It was time to celebrate on the beach.


	9. Chapter 8

_**(A/N: Hi there! Sorry it's taken me about 3,000 years to post a new chapter. I actually just moved and have been trying to get adjusted to the new apartment and new job. Thank you *so* much for the reviews I received in the absence. It was a fantastic thing to come back to. Hope you enjoy the new chapter!)**_

Chapter 8

With all the guests and wedding party members aboard the Shera, the airship glided smoothly through the air and towards their destination in Costa del Sol. Alathea and Alexia stood on the deck, inched as close as they could get to the room-length window; no matter how long they planned on staying this time around, a view of the world from this perspective couldn't be missed, and this spot remained their favorite on the airship.

Alexia continued to fidget with her dress, her hair, her nails, and her jewelry as she'd been since the ceremony was over. Finally, she huffed an agitated sigh, breaking her best friend out of her dreamy reverie. Alathea turned her attention to her, a wry grin on her face.

"Something the matter?"

"I'd smack the shit out of you if I were more flexible in this dress, Juliet."

Alathea feigned mock offense before pulling her distressed friend into a sidelong bear hug. When she put Alexia back where she'd found her, she saw the discontent in her face. Something _really was_ wrong.

"Lex?"

Alexia wrung her hands together, shifting her weight back and forth, and after a deep breath finally stood still.

"I don't know what I'm supposed to be doing, Thea. I'm going into emotional overload."

The girls stood in silence for a moment, watching the world under their feet fly by in dizzying displays of green, blue, and brown.

"Tell me." Alathea quietly prodded. Alexia looked around to ensure nobody was eavesdropping and began to spill.

"By all rights I should hate Yazoo right now. I had a comfortable life, and he clearly took it upon himself to wreck everything..!" her hands balled into fists and her eyebrows knitted. Alathea almost smiled at the barely-controlled tantrum when suddenly, Alexia's body visibly relaxed.

"Thing of it is, when I saw him...when we _saw eachother_... I forgot how angry I was for a minute."

"That's pretty telling, don't you think? Maybe it's supposed to be that way!"

"Thea, I can't just throw myself at him after he stabbed me in the back like that! I owe it to myself to leave some bruises on him."

Alathea bit her lip and thought for a moment. That cold morning...the letter...the boat...

"I think we may have stabbed first..." she whispered, and Alexia's mouth popped open in shock. A few moments passed as the girls turned the situation over in their minds. There were too many variables, too many possible outcomes and decisions to be made.

"Hey."

Alexia's head snapped up as she met her friend's gaze. Alathea was smiling.

"Regardless of what we're supposed to do, or what we're supposed to be feeling, or who deserves to be mad, this is supposed to be a happy day, remember?"

Alexia finally smiled back.

"Okay. We shall hereby dance all night and probably drink too much."

"Hear hear!"

The reception in Costa del Sol was underway, and the setting couldn't have been better. The sun was just beginning to set over the pavilion-style reception hall that was situated roughly 50 yards from the ocean. The lights from the dance floor bounced around the building and occasionally glittered off of the sand outside, and music, laughter and voices carried over the sounds of waves splashing against the beach.

Inside the reception hall, Yuffie and Loz stood in their place at the bridal party table, amiably greeting everybody who came to offer their congratulations. Neither of them showed any signs of losing the absolute joy they'd displayed earlier this afternoon - it had been the perfect day for them. And after saving the world twice, they'd deserved an uninterrupted day of peace and happiness.

Alathea and Alexia sat at their seats on the bride's side, smiling as they watched the reception unfold before them.

"Do you remember," Alexia softly laughed, "the first time we suspected that Loz and Yuffie were together?" Alathea choked on her drink at the memory.

They'd just been stationed at the house that the silver-haired brothers had built, and the only comradery they had at the time was with each other. The complete disorientation and lack of food had decidedly made the girls enemies with their captors. One morning, Loz had ordered them to their rooms to get changed for training when Alexia noticed something on his neck...

* * *

_"Go in there, your outfits are right through the door." He demanded and strode past them, not expecting to hear another noise. Loz froze when he heard Alathea make a slurping/sucking noise, and Alexia burst into the pure anger in his face, the women quit smiling, dashed into the room, and slammed the door shut._

_Loz wasted no time trying to beat it down._

_"Shit, what do we do!" Alexia snapped, still laughing and trying to hold the door shut at the same time._

_"Go out in front of the door! Take off your shirt, and pretend you were changing!" Alathia whispered._

_They dashed forward, flipping off their shirts, with no regard for their decency. The door smashed open and they shrieked (fake) surprised to see Loz standing there. He turned pale as they covered themselves and screamed simultaneously,_

_"GET OUT PERV!"_

_The door slammed shut, and again, the girls were left to bask in their near naked glory.

* * *

_

"Oh my God," Alathea howled with laughter, "we were so freaking mean to each other!"

"Yeah. I'm pretty sure Yazoo chucked my hairbrush in the toilet the next morning. We waged constant war on each other." Alexia tittered, swirling the contents of her glass with her pinky. The girls simultaneously stole a glance at the other end of the table, where Yazoo, Sephiroth, Kadaj, and some woman stood discussing something that seemed important.

Yazoo looked bored, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. He glanced behind his shoulder at the two girls, who were clearly on their way to tipsy. They watched as he bit back a smirk and nudged Kadaj, who followed his gaze. At this point, the woman leading the discussion loudly cleared her throat, and the men hesitantly snapped back to the conversation.

"Who's she?" Alathea scowled, motioning to the woman. Alexia shrugged and drained her glass, then scooted out of her chair.

"Who knows, who cares. Where's the catorer? I need more...this." she replied, jiggling her glass with a smile. Alathea immediately brightened - her best friend was finally ready to let loose and have a good night. She grabbed her own glass and followed her onto the dance floor for a refill.

_(Ashley Jade - "Let Me Be Your Fantasy")_

The early evening turned into night, the children had been put to bed, and the soft reception music built into throbbing bass. Alexia and Alathea were in the throngs of guests still on the dancefloor; they laughed and joked, gyrating their bodies to the beat of the music and sipping on their drinks. It reminded them of their time spent working in a club in Edge as a group dance act to entertain the guests. The club had been the one place they really had a chance to let loose and have fun, even if it meant occasionally having a skirmish with Cloud on their way to or from work. And sometimes, it did.

"We need to have friends get married on the beach more often!" Alexia shouted over the music, wiggling her hips back and forth. Alathea laughed and started to say something when a tall figure placed a hand on her friend's shoulder.

"May I have this dance?" Yazoo interjected. He managed to not shout and still be heard over the music. Weird brothers with their weird abilities.

"Funny you mentioned the beach - I still haven't had a chance to check it out. Bye now!" Alathea called over her shoulder as Alexia's eyes widened to an impossible size. She reached out her arm in a feeble attempt to call her friend back, but Alathea had already fought her way out of the crowd and was well on her way towards the exit to the pavilion. Traitor.

Without warning, Yazoo turned her in a circle using her extended arm and slipped it around his own neck. He placed his free hand behind her back and pulled him towards him, and the shock that then rocked her body made it an amazing feat that she could dance, let alone stand.

* * *

Alathea flitted outside, barely containing her giddy laughter. She knew she was probably going to catch hell for abandoning Alexia in her hour of need, but the moment needed to happen, and she wasn't going to get in the way. Least of not while Lex had some liquid courage in her - she knew her best friend was a scrapper and couldn't wait to hear about what had happened between the two of them later on.

Outside, she was immediately enraptured with the beauty of the ocean. Back home, they were nowhere near a body of water like this...just the crummy, duck crap pond. Cid's airship really was going to come in handy if it meant seeing beautiful tourist traps like this semi-frequently.

She walked along the length of the exposed beach for a little while, allowing the bass of the party to fade to a murmur while she quietly explored the area. She hoped things with Yazoo and Alexia had taken a good turn...too often she felt like she pushed Lex into situations she didn't necessarily want to be in. But this, she hoped, was the exception. Her mind jogged back to right before the wedding, when her friend caught sight of Yazoo in his groomsmen get-up. That blush...yeah, she'd probably made the right decision by leaving the two of them together.

Before long, she'd made half a lap around the venue, winding up on the side that faced the town of Costa del Sol. She leaned against the wall, craning her neck to take in the view of all the villas up the hill, their soft, warm lights flickering in the distance.

"Pretty, isn't it?"

Alathea jolted, and a mischievious and familiar laugh bounced off the walls from somewhere above where she stood.

Kadaj dropped from the sky and softly landed in the sand beside her.

What an entrance. A million thoughts rushed her overwhelmed brain, and the only thing she could manage to blurt out was, "Were you on the roof?"

Kadaj laughed again, nodding like the scheme-y little schoolboy that he had always been. "It was getting to be a bit heavy in there. Thought I'd come out and enjoy the scenery."

"From the roof?"

"From the roof!"

Alathea finally cracked a smile. She motioned to the beachside city that sprawled in front of them.

"It really _is_ gorgeous, isn't it?"

"That's not the scenery I was talking about."

Alathea's breath caught in her throat as she gazed at him; part of her wanted to laugh at his cheesy quip, and the other part wanted to pounce on him. Neither side won, as it happened...they just stared each other down, amusement lighting their features. Alathea took a sizable drink from her glass and dared a few steps closer to him.

"I've...I've missed you." she whispered, no longer meeting his gaze.

"You left." He replied in a tone that was more of a statement than an accusation. Regardless, she sighed as the guilt tugged at her insides and formed a lump in her throat.

"I had to see what I'd left behind. The life I was leading before we were uprooted..."

Kadaj nearly closed the distance between them. He tilted her chin up so she'd look at him, and her breath hitched in her throat.

"And what did you miss?" he asked, his eyes slipping over her features, seemingly memorizing them over again.

"You."

For once, Kadaj was the one caught off guard. He smiled, happiness washing over his features. He weighed his words, and opened his mouth to reply.

"There you are!"

His mouth snapped shut and the happiness turned into panic.

"Ava."

His momentary paralysis dissolved, and he finally turned to face a woman that had apparently just recently rounded the corner; it was the same woman who had the brothers trapped in conversation earlier in the evening. She had short black hair, cropped to snugly fit around her jawline. Her stance was authoritative, yet sultry in a way that immediately made Alathea wary. She slowly made her way over to the two, her annoyingly shapely hips making every step look like a graceful dance.

"Alathea, I presume." She extended a bony hand towards her, which Alathea hesitantly took, unable to speak.

"So good to finally meet you. Who knew such scary monsters were the products of little girls?" she threw her head back when she laughed, another annoying attribute. When Alathea clenched her jaw instead of responding, Ava touched her throat in a show of sincerity.

"I'm sorry, darling. I'm truly impressed with your _former_ abilities. If it weren't for them, Dajie here would have been liquidized Geostigma!" She slipped an arm around Kadaj's waist, nipping his ear playfully.

Alathea was paralyzed with fury and confusion. Who the hell _was_ this woman? She had about 4 seconds to take his hands off of Kadaj before she didn't have limbs at all. Kadaj nervously cleared his throat.

"Ava here is the head of the public relations division of WRO."

Alathea had finally mustered her voice. She decidedly matched Ava's mockingly civil tone.

"Very interesting! It must be hard trying to make ShinRa look good on a daily basis."

Ava's eyes iced over behind her smile.

"Mmm. Well the thing of it is, WRO is more or less ShinRa 2.0. We're ShinRa, but dedicating our efforts to the improvement of the planet and righting what was done years ago. We're ShinRa.."

She visibly sized Alathea up.

"...but newer. Better. Prettier, even."

Alathea downed what contents were left in her glass. It burned her all the way down, matching the way she now felt. She smiled at both of them and motioned to the door.

"It was lovely meeting you. But I have a friend inside that I need to meet up with. Excuse me."

She stole one last glance at Kadaj, whose eyes were closed in what looked like an attempt to shut all the bad out. Too late for that, Alathea thought as she awkwardly shuffled past them and back inside. Way too late.

* * *

_(Paps'n'skar - "Get it On")_

The bass continued to pulse throughout the venue, and Alexia and Yazoo's bodies responded by moving in time. Alexia couldn't tell if she was hearing the resounding bass of the music or the hammering of her own heart. The alcohol had certainly taken effect; she knew she was supposed to be yelling at him about something...

"My hair brush." She growled.

"Mmm?"

Wait. No. That wasn't quite right...

"I think you owe me an explanation, Alexia." Yazoo hummed in her ear, twirling her once more. Her eyes were on the ceiling, the lights bouncing off of every surface. She steadied herself on his chest and remembered.

"_You _owe _me_ an apology!" she stammered, her conviction faltering under the hypnotic sound of his voice. However, it must have struck home, as Yazoo took a step back to look at her, his eyebrows knitted in confusion and hurt.

"An apology for what, exactly?"

"Ruining my relationship back home!"

His expression then shifted from confused to incredulous and bitter.

"I think you did that on your own when you came here."

The words hit her in the chest like a heavy-handed blow. She shoved past him and through the crowd, occasionally ricocheting off of guests that were too drunk to care. Before she knew it, she was standing in the open ocean air on the beachside exit to the pavilion. The little sweat that previously tickled her neck and face were now chilled in the breeze, slightly sobering her.

"Alexia."

The voice was both demanding and desperate. She turned, giving Yazoo her worst look, but nearly faltered again. He stood with his back against the cool painted brick, and some of his hair had come loose from his ponytail and was dancing in the wind. The sight still drove her crazy in ways that she hated to admit.

"You _did_ ruin it. I had a perfectly normal life and-"

"You hate normal." He was smug now, smiling.

"It was normal, and it was good, and you ruined it with your drawing!" She accused, well aware of how silly she probably looked drunkenly pointing fingers. Yazoo actually laughed now.

"You can blame the bride for that one. The addition to my artwork certainly was mine, but she was the one desperate to get her favorite girlfriends back as bridesmaids." he chuckled, and waited for the epiphone to set in.

It didn't take long.

Yuffie had been behind... everything. The drawing, the break-up, the hype...she'd never stopped Alexia jumping at the chance to take a swing at her former lover.

"Oh, come on. It's Yuffie! Master of deception with those big brown eyes. Lex, she's a ninja. Literally. But she does love you."

Alexia didn't care; she was irritated beyond belief at the Wutai princess, and she was going to settle the score right now. She charged towards the pavilion and was halfway in the door when she was suddenly clotheslined by a slim, strong arm. It gripped her by the waist and practically lifted her off the ground, whipping her back outside and against the wall. Alexia gasped, disoriented again, but Yazoo towered over her now, his body pinning her back.

"Now," he murmured, tucking a stray curl behind her ear, "you still owe me an explanation for leaving here to be with that silly man back where you came from."

"Yazoo, I-"

"Shh." He gingerly pinched her lips together between his fingers, and she would have smiled if she'd had any motor control. Or use of her mouth. Stupid, stupid vodka. Yazoo smirked in the moonlight that had given his hair and skin an ethereal glow.

"You owe me an explanation, but I don't need it right now. Right now, I'm going to show you exactly why you need not leave again." He smiled, lowering his mouth to the side of her neck. His breath made her shiver.

"I'm going to show you why _this_ is your home."


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

(A/N: Wow. Didn't think it would take me that long to post another chapter. Sorry about the delay! I'm beginning to find that this is primarily written for one person, although I'd be floored if anybody else enjoyed it as well! For anybody out there that's actually reading this...thank you. Getting myself back into writing in general is a tough process; thank you for helping me see it through! Hope you enjoy.)

* * *

A beam of late morning light shone between a pair of dark blue shades, splashing onto the face of a huddled blond form tucked in a mass of blankets. Alathea's eyes scrunched even more tightly closed, then hesitantly began to open; she blinked into the sunshine and groggily began to take in her surroundings. Blue curtains...? On the left side of the bed...? That wasn't right at all.

In a panic, Alathea shot up into a sitting position, her white-blond hair forming a lofty halo around her head, which was now searing with pain. She gasped, gritting her teeth and forcing her eyes closed again.

Drinking. Last night, she'd certainly been drinking. Enough to forget drinking that essential glass of water before bed, and enough to ensure she didn't know where she was this morning. The panic bubbled up in her throat again, and she braved peeking through her fingers to piece together her new surroundings. She was alone, thank God, in a fairly large bedroom that was just littered enough to be slightly comforting.

It was a bachelor pad, to be sure. T-shirts and the occasional pair of boxers lain strewn over the carpeted floor and open dresser, a green neon beer sign glowed warmly on the inner wall, and despite the lack of glitz of the rest of the furniture in the room, an enormous 48" TV sat against the wall directly across from the bed. Also, mixed in with the faint tell-tale scent of cologne was just a hint of beer sweat.

Turning back towards the window, Alathea finally took notice of an ancient-looking PC tucked into the corner of the room. She crept out of the sheets and tiptoed her way to the machine, jiggling the mouse when she got there. Slowly, the monitor woke up, revealing an eccentric desktop layout. Minesweeper, solitaire, backgammon, free cell, hearts, mah jong, Internet, Shit To Give Elena Instead, and an icon with the WRO logo on it.

Elena? WRO?

She double-clicked on the icon, pulling up with looked to be the organization's employee intranet. Company-wide emails from the top, links to general department pages, and an employee directory.

A memory of last night flashed through her mind, making her gut twist with agony but leaving her with what she needed. Her mouse hovered over the Department drop-down menu, producing a new list to choose from.

Military

Investigative

MedTek

Public Relations.

There! Her heart skipped a beat when, after she clicked on it, she was met with a large photo of the woman from last night. "Ava Hartwood", it read under the picture, followed by "Head of Public Relations" and a few informative paragraphs about the department. Nothing juicy, sadly. Just the obnoxiously smug smile that screamed, "Hello! I'm a class A bitc-"

A door slammed shut in the other room, and Alathea nearly choked on her breath. She hurriedly closed all the windows on the computer and clicked the monitor off, scurrying back to bed and managing to grab one sheet before the bedroom door swung open, and in walked...Reno. Wearing light blue pajama pants and just about nothing else, save for a hair tie at the nape of his neck. His hair seemed to have grown back since the incident with that hellish alien during their first stay there.

The two stood frozen to the spot, one mirroring the other with slightly terrified expressions.

Suddenly, Alathea pieced something together. She'd been drunk last night, only to wake up in Reno's apartment. Reno, whose morning wardrobe was decidedly...scant. Her mouth popped open in shock, and Reno's arms shot out in front of him defensively, frantically waving his hands back and forth.

"N-n-n-n-no! Whoa! Not what you think!" he pleaded, taking a step backwards, just to be safe. He watched as Alathea blinked, glanced at the mountains of sheets, then to his pajamas, and back to the bed.

"What...What happened last night?" She dared, trying to keep her voice even. Reno sighed and visibly decompressed a little, sensing that maybe she wasn't going to shoot holes in him just yet.

"Apparently, you got a little...er...tipsy last night. Nothing too embarrassing... just enough for Elena's Menstrual Senses or whatever kick in and come to the rescue. She told me to take care of you or else she'd tell Tseng about how I was the one behind the mass flooding of toilets at HQ."

Reno's eyebrows knit together as he seemed to really get lost on that last statement. After about 5 seconds, Alathea cleared her throat. Reno snapped back to reality.

"Oh. Sorry. So yeah, she helped change you into one of my team-building shirts and tucked you in. I had to sleep on my couch...in my own vacation home."

He squinted again, throwing another mental fit. That was okay, though, as now Alathea's conscious was alleviated, and her desire to check herself in to the nearest clinic and get herself tested had come and gone. She beamed at Reno, who was distracted enough by the display to stop the pouting. He raised his eyebrows, his mood shifting from terrified, to annoyed, and now to awkward.

"Uh...want some coffee?"

* * *

Alexia, for the first time in months, had slept soundly. She woke up slowly and smiling, remembering each incredible moment since the wedding reception...

_"I'm going to show you why __**this**__ is your home."_

And he'd certainly done just that. He'd kissed her, then, making her heart nearly burst and completely inhibiting her ability to walk. Or speak. Or move.

"You...don't want me to do that?" Yazoo murmured, grief lacing his melodic voice. Alexia blinked a few times, collecting herself to the best of her ability. Not only had she had enough to drink to make basic motor skills difficult, but she had just experienced such an awakening that her brain couldn't stop reeling. For over a year, she'd been sinking into herself, forgetting what it was to feel the adrenaline of a kiss like that - one that made your soul sing. The first thing she'd felt since her long bout with depression was fury after Jason had left her with Yazoo's drawing. Then anxiety over tonight. And then, of course, came this.

It didn't make sense. She'd come here to give Yazoo an end to his young life by choking him out with his own hair! And now, suddenly, he was the reason she breathed. One kiss had re-oriented her world and completed something in her. It didn't make sense, but neither did most things she'd experienced since being brought to Gaia. Giant chickens that serve as public transportation? A river running through the core of the planet, composed of the very essense of life? Cloud's hair, and its blatant defiance of gravity? Well...maybe this did mean a bit more sense.

Alexia's face visibly relaxed as every epiphany bubbled to the surface.

She closed the distance between them, melting back into his arms and a state of euphoric vertigo. Stars danced in her mind as she remembered his lips and the feel of his strong hands at the small of her back.

And then they were flying. Or what felt like flying, anyway; probably speeding through the sleepy streets of Costa del Sol on his motorbike. After the flying came a speedy retreat up white stairs that reminded her of the ethereal trees in the Forbidden Forest, glowing and comforting amidst the frightening nothingness around it.

Finally, Yazoo put her down in the room she was currently half-asleep in. She wavered, then took a deep breath and began examining the room.

White. Everything was mostly white. Lush, heavy-looking down comforters upon a bed made from the same wood that the stairs were. There were no pictures on the walls, but there was a small bouquet of white lilies on a glass desk with steel legs. On the outermost wall was a large, sliding glass door which led to a balcony that stood open, the coastal evening breeze making the translucent curtains sway. From where she stood in the center of the room, she could see the town below; this place seemed to have been built at the top of the hilly landscape, overlooking the soft, golden lights of all the streetlights and homes.

Alexia smiled, and Yazoo, watching her every move, slipped his hands around her waist from behind.

"What is it?"

"I can hear the ocean from here. And nothing else. It's...nice." she sighed, and Yazoo gingerly turned her to the right. In front of her was another desk - a vanity - with an enormous round mirror that captured almost all of the opposite wall.

Alexia watched Yazoo in their reflection as his quick hands snuck into her hair, gently pulling out the pins that held up her hair. One by one, her thick curls fell to her back. She shivered unintentionally - it felt good to get those damned things out.

"You're pretty fast with this.." she whispered, cocking an eyebrow and causing Yazoo to smirk.

"I may have some experience with long hair."

"Yes, you'd look so pretty with your hair done up like mine."

Finally, when every pin had been removed, Yazoo planted a soft kiss on top of her head.

"Much better," he breathed, turning her once more back to him. Alexia yawned, then immediately slapped a hand over her mouth, causing Yazoo to shake with silent laughter. "Bedtime for the Lilyou."

"But...!"

She watched as Yazoo nimbly slipped out of his groomsman attire and into a pair of pajamas. Seeing him mostly exposed like that had derailed her train of thought. After everything that led up to her being swept away to this suite, he wasn't going to...seal the deal? Seriously?

He seemed to read her thoughts while he fetched her a shirt to sleep in.

"I fully plan on making good on my promise to keep you here," he murmured, grinning as he flipped a plain white t-shirt over his shoulder. She caught it and turned around, shimmying out of her dress to put it on.

"_But...?_" she dared, irritation slightly present in her tone. This seemed to only encourage and entertain Yazoo further.

"But you've had a lot to drink and you're about to fall asleep standing up."

She huffed, jerking the shirt over her head and turning back to face him. He looked her up and down appreciatively, making her face flush crimson. It was so sad that nothing could merit this kind of reaction out of her for over 2 years.

"Trust me. The time will come, and we'll make the best of it." He smiled, climbing into his side of the bed. Alexia followed suit, and he immediately tugged her over to him. "But that time is not tonight. Imagine if I were to lean down to whisper sweet nothings," he teased, choosing to speak to her with his lips resting just on her ear, "And you were asleep! My pride just couldn't bear it."

Alexia laughed, then, wrapping her free arm around him and cozying up to him as closely as possible.

And the next thing she knew, here she was. It was morning.

Stretching contentedly, she could feel the morning sun warming her back through the balcony doors. She rolled over and reached for Yazoo, and found...paper?

Her eyes snapped open, and she sat up, snatching the paper that _wasn't_ going to cuddle with her and have breakfast on the balcony. Grumpily, she read his unmistakable penmanship.

_Alexia,_

_Good morning, champion. I'm really glad you don't have your gunblades on you today, as I'd hate to hear that you blew a thousand holes in my room of the honeymoon suite. Sephiroth woke Kadaj and I this morning to start work on the beachside clinic. It's going to be a small job... the closest reactor to this place is in North Corel, which was the first place we ever built a clinic. It's just more or less a convenience thing for people who happen to be passing through at the port. _

_Anyway, try to not harbor __**too**__ much anger towards me. I grabbed your things from the airship and left them in a bag by the door. See? Even though I don't have to defend your life with bullets and blade, I can still be your hero._

_See you soon._

_-Y_

Despite her best efforts at irritation, Alexia smiled. Hero, indeed.

"Rise and shiiiiiiine, sleepyhead!"

Oh no. That voice! It was all coming back to her, but the question was where could she hide before he-

The door practically blew open, and there stood Sephiroth in his robe. Robe 2.0, as this one actually had substance to it and didn't hint at the shape of his...Masamune. He used to wake her up like this all the time, just to be a pain in the ass.

"Good morning, Seph." she grumbled, laying the paper down next to her and glowering into the doorway.

"Sorry for making your boyfriend work today, but you know how the saying goes. 'Brothers before...others...?"

Alexia actually facepalmed.

"Anyway, breakfast at Cloud and Tifa's rental cottage. Just wanted to let you know before you went prancing off to the airship to find nobody else there."

"Did Kadaj stay here, too?"

"Yeah."

"Well where's Alathea?"

Sephiroth cocked an eyebrow, and she sensed that she was missing something.

"Alathea's not here?"

"No...she's not here."

Before she could ask any more questions, he pulled the door shut. Yep, he was still irritating. Alexia stood, crossing the room and fumbling through her belongings until she found her phone. Sitting on the bedroom floor, she dialed her best friend, who picked up after just one ring.

"Thea!"

"Hey, Lex!"

"Dude, where are you? Sephiroth just barged in to let me know that you're not here at the suite..."

She heard Alathea gasp.

"You're at the suite! Ahhhhh, so things with Yaz went well last night! Holy shit, I'm going to need details...!"

"Alathea, _where are you?"_

"Uhhhhh...At Reno's."

"..."

"Can you meet me at the airship?"

"I will beat you at the airship."

"Shhh. I'll explain there. Loveyoubye."

*click*

Alexia sighed, closing her phone and tossing it back into the bag. Now that one problem had been squashed, another creeped up on her. Home again, home again, jiggity jig.


End file.
